Alexander Men Murdered One Sunday

Dan Graves, MSL

Church History Timeline

As such conferences go, Poissy was a flop. By the middle of the
sixteenth century, France seemed ready to tear itself apart over
religion. A large minority of Frenchmen had converted to Reformation
views. And while the majority remained Catholic, there were divisions
among them, too, some wanting to stick firmly to the headship of Rome,
others arguing for a semi-independent French Catholic church.

While Charles IX was a minor, his mother, Catherine de' Medici ruled
France as regent. In a desperate effort to preserve order in her nation,
the queen summoned Catholic and Protestant theologians to work out a
religious agreement under which both sides could live. Although this
conference was stoutly resisted by France's leading Catholics, Catherine
brought it about.

On this day, September 9, 1561, the
Colloquy of Poissy met in the dining room of a local convent.
Representing the Catholics were six cardinals, 38 archbishops and
bishops, and many other clergymen. The two most famous of the
Protestants in attendance were Theodore Beza from Switzerland and the
Italian-born humanist and scholar Peter Martyr Vermigli.

Chancellor L'Hôpital opened the proceedings with a speech
assuring the delegates that it was appropriate for the monarchy to hold
such a conference for the sake of the church. There might be doubts in
the minds of the Catholics, he thought, because the Council of Trent was
in session and they might ask themselves if they did not belong there
instead.

Beza stated the Protestant position and aroused cries of blasphemy
when he said that the body and blood of Christ were as far from the
bread and wine, as the highest heaven is from the earth. Catholics
believe that the bread and wine literally become the body and blood of
Christ. In the end, differences over the Eucharist (Lord's Supper) and
the authority of the pope proved to be walls the negotiators were not
nimble enough to leap over.

Not that they didn't try. Realizing that nothing could be
accomplished by the large convention, a much smaller committee was
delegated to look for solutions. Twelve men from each side sat together.
However, the pope's men did everything they could to sabotage the talks.
They simply had no intention of reaching an agreement with ideas they
defined as heresy.

Still, royal pressure was great to come up with some kind of
reconciliation so that France might not destroy itself in useless
strife. Therefore an even smaller committee of five from each side
talked and came up with a vague formula of agreement. But when they
presented this wording to the whole group at Poissy, neither side would
accept it.

The next year, the Catholics and Huguenots went to war. Battles and
atrocities raged off and on for thirty years.

Bibliography:

Grant, A. J. The Huguenots. Archon, 1969.

Rothrock, G. A. The Huguenots; a biography of a minority.
Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1979.

"Poissy, Colloquy of." Encyclopedia Britannica. Britannica,
1911.

"Religious Discussions." The Catholic Encyclopedia. New
York: Robert Appleton, 1914.